Karen Coleman

Specialist in Employment

Karen is a specialist employment lawyer who prides herself on giving commercial and off the fence advice.

Since qualifying in England in 1999 and then also in Scotland in 2003, Karen has advised a range of employers from household names to small owner managed businesses throughout England and Scotland particularly in the retail, manufacturing and IT sectors. Based in Stoke on Trent for the last few years, Karen has also worked in Edinburgh and Essex.

Karen advises on all day to day and occasional HR issues and particularly enjoys getting involved with the employee aspects of commercial transactions such as business sales and employee transfers from the public sector. Another of Karen’s particular specialties is advising on sensitive exits of senior employees and directors.

Experience

Advised an oil company on the dismissal of its Chief Executive for gross misconduct;

Acted for a London-based hedge fund manager in his tribunal claims against his employer;

Acted for a number of Scottish councils on all employment law issues arising from the sale of their housing stock and associated transfer of 100+ employees, including consultations with unions and employees, negotiations of warranties/indemnities;

Advised both public sector and PFI/PPP companies in relation to projects for the building of new schools and hospitals in both England and Scotland;

Qualified

1999

Qualifications

LLB (Hons) DipLaw English and Scottish Qualified

Interests

Karen is married with 2 young boys and likes to spend their weekends in the Peak District or visiting friends and family spread out between Surrey and Moray in Scotland. She is interested in wildlife and enjoys walking and running and when not outdoors and the boys are asleep, she tries to fit in the occasional book.

Latest Blog Posts

The challenge Morrisons is facing over equal pay at the employment tribunal comes mostly from women who argue their pay is unfair because it is less than their male counterparts employed in distribution centres. Male workers there are paid £1 to £4 an hour more than their female colleagues who work in supermarkets, they claim. […]

Autumn 2017 will go down as a tumultuous time in the brief history of Uber in Britain’s capital. On top of learning of TfL’s delicensing of their TFI license and subsequently launching an appeal against it, Uber have chosen to appeal the 2016 tribunal decision that their drivers are ‘workers’, and consequently entitled to the […]

Testimonials

"Karen is very approachable, supportive and encouraging and also `client focused` in her solutions whilst also identifying issues and risks. Karen demonstrates integrity, excellent communication skills, a flexible approach and professional expertise and I would not hesitate to recommend her to others.”

"I have worked with Karen on employment law matters for a number of years initially as a partner in the law firm we both worked for when I enthusiastically recommended Karen’s employment services to clients. When I left private practice to take up the position of General Counsel, I sought Karen’s advice and assistance for a particularly challenging and sensitive employment dispute (dismissal of our former Chief Executive for gross misconduct). Throughout those very trying and testing times."